reverence
by scribblingnellie
Summary: Sometimes the socially inept genius that is Sherlock Holmes takes Molly Hooper by surprise. A late night fic exploring the altered nature /dynamic of their friendship in S3. Part of my series of stories based on creative prompts for May. Many thanks for reading!


**I pondered this prompt for a while before writing. I found the idea of reverence as **_**a feeling or attitude of deep respect tinged with awe**_** inspired me to explore where Molly and Sherlock's relationship in S3 might take them. Many thanks for reading!**

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The smell had almost gone. Molly had ordered in extra extractor fans, and asked the cleaners to give every surface another thorough scrubbing.

Standing in the doorway, sniffing, she decided there was no longer a danger of suffocating. No remaining traces of the toxic fumes, just the aroma of industrial cleanliness instead of a Sherlock experiment gone wrong.

As she set her papers and pile of samples down on the lab table, there was a faint knocking on the door. Turning, she saw the head of black curls peering through the glass panel. She couldn't help smiling; he seemed a little hesitant.

The door opened slightly, enough for his head to fit through. 'Molly, I was just wondering... that is, can I come in?'

'Of course, Sherlock.'

His nose twitched; eyes searching the lab as he entered. 'They've done a good job.'

'Yes.'

'Good... good.' Pausing, he looked as though he was considering his next words carefully. 'I wanted to say...'

Molly looked up from the open reports in front of her. Something in his face made her stop. 'Sherlock? You ok?'

From behind his back, he produced a box. A small dark brown box, with a thick gold ribbon tied around it. Molly stared at it as he placed it on the table in front of her. A gift?

'I, um, got you these. I believe... that is, John recommended it as the thing to do to say sorry.'

He was apologising? Molly tore her eyes from the elegant box, looking up at her dear friend. Oh, his face. Sherlock looked so earnest, and a tiny bit worried; his hands clasped in front of him as he stood back from the table.

'I... I didn't expect... I mean, you didn't have to.' Reaching out, she ran his fingers over the beautiful box. Posh chocolates; he knew her well.

'I did have to. It was just...' Taking a deep breath. 'You were so upset and angry and I know that I shouldn't have just walked out and left it, left you to clean up my mess. I should have done it myself. And I don't like it when you're mad at me.'

'Oh, Sherlock.' Molly felt her heart ache as his words tumbled out over each other. Even if he had filled the lab with a dangerous chemical fog, she knew he'd only done it because he'd been so keen to help solve the case. 'I'm not mad at you.'

'You're not?' he asked, incredulous.

'No.' Molly shook her head. 'Of course I'm not.'

'But you didn't answer my texts.'

'Well, I was upset. You'd filled the lab with a cloud of toxic fumes and then ran off, so, yes I did ignore your texts.'

'Sorry about that.' He reached out to move a small petri dish closer to the others on the table. 'I hate to think of you being mad at me.'

'What, in case I won't let you back into the lab?' Molly said, half joking.

'No, no! It's just...' Sherlock cleared his throat, looking slightly uncomfortable, clasping and unclasping his hands. '...I don't like the thought of you being upset and angry and myself being the reason why. I think that makes sense ...and you're a little, um, impressive when you're angry.'

Molly couldn't help herself as she laughed out loud. Even eight months after his return from the dead, Sherlock still took her by surprise sometimes. Hopping off the stool, she wrapped her arms around him, feeling the rough wool of his coat against her cheek. While he could be the most irritating and obnoxious man alive, he was also a rather endearing genius.

Letting him go, Molly smiled up at him. 'Thank you, Sherlock.'

'And you're really not mad at me?'

'No. I mean, you can be irritating and annoying and socially inept, but I can never be mad at you.'

'Oh, ok, that's ...good.' And he gently placed his hand on her shoulder, smiling. 'Thank you.'

'No problem. Now,' Molly said as she settled herself back onto the stool, pushing her paperwork to one side, 'are you going to help me eat these?'

Quickly pulling up a stool beside her, Sherlock made himself comfortable. 'I did notice that they've added a new truffle to this particular collection - salted caramel and hazelnut, which I rather liked the sound of. Ah... I mean, um, thank you, Molly. After you, of course.'

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**Hope you enjoyed reading!**

**Thank you for all the reviews and favourites for this series of stories so far - I'm off away to the wilds of Scotland for a couple of weeks so this is the last one for a little while. I'll have my notebook with me so I shall carry on writing for the prompts and publish them when I'm back. Hopefully!**


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